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Western European Embroidery

in the Collection of
the Cooper-Hewiit
Museum

The Smithsonian
Institution's National
Museum of Design

Man's Cap

England, late 16th century
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Split and back stitch
using s/7/<. Couched metal-
wrapped silk with silk of
various colors used tor
couching. Spangles
attached. Some clouds and
rainbows separately
embroidered on linen and
attached.

Bequest of Richard C.
Greenleaf in memory of his
mother, Adeline Emma
Greenleaf. 1962-53-11

^Western
... European

%9. Embroidery

in the Collection of
the Cooper-Hewitt
Museum ■

The Smithsonian
Institution's National
Museum of Design

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Title page from Vavassore, Giovanni, Esemplano di Lavore 1 530

Foreword

The collections that Eleanor and Sarah
Hewitt amassed for the school started by
their grandfather, Peter Cooper, have long
been recognized in scholarly circles. In
public eyes, however, they are regarded
as "the best kept secret in New York." With
the move of the collections from the Cooper
Union to the Carnegie Mansion, they are
available at last to wider audiences. Thus,
each year, several collections that normally
rest in study centers will be put on
temporary display. To accompany these
exhibitions, the Museum will publish small
catalogues describing its holdings in the
subject areas presented.

Because of the current revival of interest in
embroidery of all kinds, the first publication
in this series is devoted to Western
European Embroideries in the Cooper-
Hewitt Museum. Although the catalogue
includes only a sampling of the many
hundreds of embroidered items in the
collection, it provides a good introduction
to the various techniques used in
embroidery, and describes the historical
development of embroidery in this part of
the world.

The formidable task of documenting the
entire Cooper-Hewitt Collection will take
many years. We are deeply grateful to the
Embroidery Council of America for enabling
us to launch the series by underwriting the
printing of this first publication.

Lisa Taylor
Director

Embroidery is the decorative attachment of
needle-worl<ed stitches to a previously
made foundation. It undoubtedly developed
from utilitarian uses of stitches, such as the
seaming together of edges of tv(/o fabrics or
skins, the reinforcing of ravi^ edges of
fabrics, or the repairing of holes and tears.

Several notable features of embroidery help
explain its popularity among widely
differing groups of people. There is no
limitation to pattern in embroidery such as
there is to pattern produced by a loom.
Embroidery stitches can be worked by one
person for self-enjoyment or by a group of
people for commercial gain. Stitches are
easy to learn, the necessary equipment is
technologically simple and quality depends
more on the embroiderer's innate and
acquired skills than on expensive materials.
The word embroidery connotes spare time,
social position and relative wealth. Through
the ownership and display of embroidery,
monarchs, artisans and farmers have
expressed pride and position within a social
structure.

A fundamental understanding of the kinds
of stitches employed in embroidery
enhances enjoyment of the work beyond
the first simply visual reaction. The
formation of stitches requires specific
movements of hand and needle: the circular
movement of "overcasting" to bind edges;
the continuously forward movement of
"running" stitch to seam; or the back and
forth movement of "running" stitch to darn.
These stitches are decorative as well as
functional. A stitch can be identified by the
relationship of portions of the element or
yarn to each other and to the foundation
into which it is worked. Although the
stitches are endlessly variable, their specific
movements can be described and the
various parts of composite stitches can be
isolated.

Simple stitches can be classified as
belonging to one of three groups: flat,
looped or knotted. Flat stitches are those in
which the thread is carried straight from
one point to another, in and out of the
foundation. The location of these points can
be changed so the stitches may or may not
be parallel to each other. Stitches may
overlap or cross. If, in the sequence of a
yarn entering and exiting the foundation
fabric the yarn is forced out of its straight
passage, the stitch can be described as
looped. The basic form of looping is
commonly known as "buttonhole" stitch.
Knotted stitches appear as a protruberance

Figure 1

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2. Part of an Altar Cloth

Lower Saxony. Germany,
14th century
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Stitches using linen
and silk: stem, satin,
surlace satin and couching.
Height: W.h inches. Width:
12'/2 inches.

Purchase in memory ol
Elizabeth Haynes. 1949-7-1

f a- M i iw iii Wi ii r* ^S?^if »inm i m0r .

on the surface of the foundation fabric,
often as a knot in the looped stitch. They
are l<nown by such names as "French,"
"Peking" or "bullion" knots.

The movements of hand and needle while
forming flat and looped stitches, and the
relationships of various parts of the yarn,
are variable and fascinating to observe. For
example, compare the straight forward
motion of "running" stitch (Figure 1,a) with
the simple change in the angle of the stitch
to produce "half cross" (Figure 1,b) and
with the close alignment of the stitches to
produce "surface satin" (Figure 1,c).
Compare the in-and-out circular motion of
"overcasting" and "satin" (Figure 1,d) with
the offset alignment of "stem", "split"
and "back" stitches (Figure 1,e). The cir-
cling back movement is combined with a cros-
sing of the yarn in both "herringbone" (Fig-
ure 1,f) and "long-armed cross" (Figure 1,g).

The hand/needle motion required for
looped stitches is circular but when the
needle comes out of the foundation fabric it
must come up and over the yarn to make a
loop before it exits into the foundation.
Buttonhole looping (Figure 1,h) can be
worked in single rows or on the vertical
with a left/right alternation as in "feather"
stitch. It can also be worked back into
previous rows to fill a shape (Figure 1,i).
Chain (Figure 1,j) is a looped stitch in
which the yarn's exit and entry are at or
near the same point. There are numerous
variations based on the spacing of exit and
entry points such as "ladder chain"
(Figure 1,k).

It should be understood that simple stitches
can be combined, interworking with or on
top of each other. Stitches can also be
interworked to form structures that are
detached from the foundation. For example,
running stitch worked over and under a set
of previously laid flat stitches can produce
plain weave or twill in detached interlacing.
Buttonhole looping worked back into loops
of a previous row produces a distinctive
looped structure. Detached stitches can be
padded or stuffed to stand out in relief.

The relationship of a stitch to a foundation
fabric can be described as counted or
uncounted. Counted stitches interwork with
the grid-like character of the foundation.
The foundation can be a fine to coarse
plain weave, plain weave with spaced
groups of warps and wefts or any other
specially made mesh-like structure such as
gauze weave, knotting, crochet or knitting.

3. Baptism of St. Martin

Franco-Flemish, 1425-35
Foundation: two layers ol
linen plain weave. Split and
stem stitches using silk.
Couched metal-wrapped
silk. Couching silk changes
color and produces
patterns and textures.
Diameter 7 inches
Gift ol Irwin Untermyer,
1962-8-1a

-Sr-«»-«

Counted embroideries generally are
geometric in appearance. Uncounted
stitches freely form the shapes and
contours of the pattern without relating to
the structure of the foundation. Counted
and uncounted stitches can be used on the
same fabric. Several stitches, such as cross,
stem and herringbone, are particularly well
suited to counting although practically all
stitches can be worked counted or
uncounted.

Several openwork techniques use counted
stitches in special ways. In "deflected
element work" for example, the warps and
wefts of a woven foundation are forced out
of alignment by a tightly pulled stitch.
Overcasting, cross and herringbone stitches
are commonly used. In "withdrawn element
work" selected warps and/or wefts of a
woven foundation are removed and the
remaining elements form the foundation for
stitches. The grid of remaining elements
can be overcast or secured by buttonhole
stitch and in turn form a foundation for
cross stitch or for interlacing or looping. In
its most extreme form, large groups of
elements are removed leaving a sparse grid
of foundation elements: the open space is
then filled with needle lace. This technique,
known as reticella, is marginally related to
embroidery.

Functional stitching is as old as man but no
one knows exactly when man began to
embellish surfaces with embroidery. All the
techniques of embroidery have a long
history, although at times certain
techniques and stitches were more favored
than others. The skill of the embroiderer
has also fluctuated throughout the ages.
Such changes can be documented in the
collection of the Cooper-Hewitt (Vluseum
which has been acquiring embroidery since
its opening as The Cooper Union tvluseum
in 1897.

Through the generosity of a number of
collectors and by judicious purchases,
Cooper-Hewitt has assembled a wide range
of small-scale embroideries, primarily from
Western Europe. The collection also
includes embroideries from the Near East,
India, Central Asia, Indonesia and the Far
East, all of which expand the range of
techniques and styles and provide
comparisons with those from Europe. The
most important are those from
Mediterranean and Near Eastern Islamic
countries, from the fifteenth century and
earlier, in which techniques and patterns
that influenced Europe can be found. The

4. Picture or Book Cover

France or Germany, 16!h
century

Foundation: silk, plain
weave in central medallion
and 5-harness satin in
borders. Satin stitch and
couching using silk.
Couched metal-wrapped
silks sometimes padded or
fully 3-dimensional. Coils ol
wire, coils ol flat metal strips
and coral beads attached.
Height; 13'h inches. Width:
1 1 'h inches.
Gilt of Marian Hague,
1959-144-1

majority of items in the collection are those
which were kept in churches, monasteries,
royal palaces and households of
landowners and tradesmen.

Because of the special way the church used
and treasured embroideries, a remarkable
number of early ecclesiastical pieces have
survived and are preserved in European and
American collections. The earliest
ecclesiastical work in the Cooper-Hewitt
dates from the fourteenth century. One, a
small fragment of an orphrey showing Mary
and Christ, embroidered with silk and
metallic (1963-70-3), is closely related in
style and technique to embroideries from
the commercial studio of Geri Lapi in
Florence. His composition and drawing is in
the high style of fourteenth century Italy.
The other fourteenth century piece, a
twelve-inch linen square, embroidered with
linen and silk showing the Crucifixion is from
Lower Saxony, Germany (Figure 2). The
strong drawing, stark composition and bold
decoration of the stitched patterns identify
this as the work of a confined order of nuns
working in a convent set apart from the
main stream of late Gothic Art.

So great was the mastery of technique
achieved by professionals in Gothic and
early Renaissance workshops of Northern
Europe that their embroideries were called
"needlepainting." The style is represented in
the collection by five Franco-Flemish
roundels, each seven inches in diameter.
Two of the roundels, produced between
1425 and 1435, illustrate events in the life of
St. Martin (Figure 3); the other three
roundels, produced between 1432 and 1450,
show events in the life of St. Catherine
(1962-8-1 c,d,e). The minute faces,
embroidered with silk in split stitch, convey
deep emotion and power. Of particular
interest is the use of couched metal-
wrapped silk yarns. Couching is a
technique in which a thread is laid across
the surface of a fabric and is secured by
tiny stitches of a second thread. The silk
couching thread in these roundels is spaced
to suggest woven or mosaic patterns and a
variety of other textures and materials. It
also changes color to suggest depth.

A tour-de-force in naturalism and three-
dimensional form is represented by a
picture with a tree in full foliage dominating
the landscape (Figure 4). It may have been
embroidered as a special commission for a
royal patron in France or Germany in the
sixteenth century. The branches of the tree
are a fully rounded and stuffed variation of

5. Border for a
Table Cover

Italy, early 1 7th century
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Counted back and
stem stitches using silk.
Trimmed with silk bobbin
lace. Repeat width:
13'/2 inches. Height:
8 inches

Greenleat in memory of his
mother, Adeline Emma
Greenleal, 1962-52-3

6. Border for a
Table Cover

Italy, early 17th century
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Back and long-
armed cross stitches using
silk. Linen bobbin lace
attached. Height: 6'/?
inches. Width: 29'h inches
Bequest ol Richard C.
Greenleat in memory ol his
mother, Adeline Emma
Greenleat 1962-52-2

■<:>

7. Band

Italy, late 16th or early 17th

century.

Foundation: linen, plain

weave. Back and running

stitches using silk. Repeat

width: 4'/j inches Height:

2'/j inches

Purchase, Anonymous

Funds, 1949-64-8

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couched metallic yarns. The leaves are bent
shapes of metal-wrapped silk and stand out
in mid-air. The salamander at the base of
the tree and the crutches and leg-like
ornaments hanging from the tree seem to
suggest rejuvenation.

A significant factor in the cultural
development in sixteenth century Western
Europe w/as the rise of the non- and semi-
professional needlevi/orker. Their emer-
gence was the result of a combination of
forces, including the printing and
distribution of books, the Reformation in
Germany and in England, the rise in
economic power of European nations, and
the increased availability of luxury goods —
among them silk and metallic yarns for
embroidery.

The first known pattern book was printed in
Augsburg, Germany in about 1523. By 1590
books of the same type also appeared in
Italy, France and England. The books are
summaries of popular ornament rather than
the designs of an individual artist. The
designs are drawn from Greek and Roman
antiquity, Gothic ornament, arabesques and
natural motifs from Islamic cultures around
the Mediterranean and patterns copied from
other books and prints. The books, which
provide no directions for stitches, are in
black and white with occasional
suggestions of tone. Some patterns suggest
counted work while others are clearly for
free-form embroidery. The patterns were
used by weavers and lace makers as well as
embroiderers.

The majority of patterns were intended for
borders of table covers, towels and
clothing. The most popular border was a
floral vine. In the 1520's and 1530's strong
Islamic influences appeared in the pattern
books. In the early seventeenth century,
elaborate curving vines ended in dragon
heads and human busts and twisting
branches provided shelter for insects and
birds (Figure 5) Other subjects which
appeared in pattern books include human
figures, animals, birds, processions, the
alphabet and geometric patterns.

Embroideries from Italy, Spain, Portugal
and England, in styles found in pattern
books, form an extensive and important part
of the Cooper-Hewitt collection. The
majority are from the gifts and bequests of
Richard C. Greenleaf and Marian Hague,
long-time friends of the museum. Of
particular interest are the bands from the
Greenleaf collection that illustrate episodes
from the Old Testament (Figure 6).

8. Ecclesiastical
Cover with symbols
of the passion

Italy, late 16th or early

1 7th century

Foundation: linen, plain

weave. Withdrawn element

work with overcasting.

Cross stitch using silk.

Patch of knotted net with

pattern darning. Height:

32'h inches. Width: 30'k

inches

Bequest of Marian Hague,

1971-50-562

Simitar to a pattern in de

Sera, Dominique— Le livre

de lingerie (Paris, 1584)

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A number of bands from Italy, Spain and
Portugal have a wide variety of stitches
using silk and metal-w/rapped silk yarns. By
the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries metallic yarns w/ere widely used,
as can be documented in portrait painting
as well as by a close study of the
embroideries themselves. Satin stitch,
increasingly favored in this period, left a
great deal of expensive yarn unseen on the
reverse side and an effort was made to
build shapes in relief using metallic yarns. A
cupid in a chariot drawn by a unicorn
(1962-120-5) and fantastic dragons (1949-
64-16) illustrates this type.

Although it is unusual to match an
embroidery with a published pattern,
several such comparisons can be made in
the Cooper-Hewitt collection thanks to the
efforts of Marian Hague. For example, a
band with the slogan "Liberta" (1971-50-92)
relates to a pattern published by Giovanni
Vavasore in Italy in 1530; a towel
embroidered at both ends with Cupid
pointing a spear at a reclining nude woman
(1971-50-563) was based on a plate from
the book published by Mathio Pagano in
Venice in 1558; and a towel end with a floral
band (1942-7-16) relates to an illustration in
Domenico da Sera's book published in Paris
in 1584.

Ecclesiastical embroidery in England, where
top quality church furnishings were
produced for an international market in the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, came to
a sudden and violent end in the sixteenth
century. Under the reign of Henry Vlll
monasteries and churches were looted and
the clergy murdered. Those vestments and
church furnishings which were not
wantonly destroyed or burnt to reclaim their
gold content, found their way into royal and
private collections where they were often
re-used. These splendid fabrics, lavishly
embellished with silks and metallics once
reserved for the church fathers, suddenly
had a wider audience— one which
appreciated their quality and quickly
grasped the concept of pride in ownership
and display. English portraits from the
period of Henry Vlll and particularly from
the reign of Elizabeth I illustrate an
extravagance of silk, metallics, spangles,
beads and precious stones combined with
brightly colored brocades, rich velvets and
intricate laces. Homes which demanded the
comfort provided by bed curtains, wall
hangings, pillows and table covers were
made more inviting by embroidery. English
domestic needlework is represented in the

9. Woman's Cap

England, about 1600
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Chain and satin
stitches using linen.
Detached looping using
metal-wrapped silk.
Withdrawn element work
with overcasting and
looping. Cut work with
needle lace fillings.
Spangles secured by a loop
of linen threaded through a
coil of a flat strip of metal.
Height: 9% inches. Width:
18'h inches
Bequest of Richard C.
Greenleaf in memory of his
mother Adeline Emma
Greenleaf. 1962-53-1

collection by a man's late sixteentti century
dome-shaped cap (cover illustration) and by
six women's caps (1962-53-1 through 6).
The man's cap is patterned with brightly
colored rainbows and with clouds hovering
over gold snails and caterpillars. The
woman's caps (Figure 9) are veritable
gardens with curving vines enclosing
flowers, fruit, birds and insects. The number
of stitches and the care with which they
were worked attest to the passion for
embroidery in England during this period.
Motifs often echoed the popular patterns of
expensive and highly prized drawloom
woven fabrics.

Pictures were embroidered for home
decoration (Figure 10). The Bible was a
frequent source for subjects, as in the
unfinished picture "Rebecca at the Well"
(1962-50-10) after an engraving by Gerard
de Jode published in Antwerp in 1585.
Among the most admired English pictures
of the seventeenth century are those in
which brightly colored flowers and human
figures stand out in relief. Images were built
up by looping, raised above the foundation
fabric, and some motifs were stuffed with
yarn or fiber.

Anxious to record patterns for future
reference, a needleworker of the sixteenth
century embroidered notes or sample
patterns on a square of linen. These
"samplers" were consulted when projects
were planned and they were avidly
collected and passed from one generation
to another. Samplers reveal the taste of a
specific time as well as the technical skill of
the embroiderer. The nucleus of the
Museum's sampler collection was put
together by Eva Johnson Coe. All European
styles are included, as well as samplers
from those countries influenced by Europe,
such as Mexico (Figure 11), Morocco and
the United States.

The earliest European sampler in the
collection was embroidered in Spain in the
sixteenth century. It is a very good example
of sampler making, for it consists of
snatches of twenty-five different patterns in
at least nine stitches.

The shape of a sampler often has much to
say about its date and country of origin.
English samplers of the seventeenth century
were usually long and narrow; measuring as
little as six inches in width and as much as
three feet in length. There are several
seventeenth century English samplers in the
collection. Some are the type known as
"spot" samplers with isolated flowers and

10. Jeptha's Daughter

England, 1 7th century.
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Counted stitches
using silk: stem, cross,
padded satin and tightly
pulled rococo to deflect
foundation elements.
Couched silk, silk-wrapped
silk, silk-wrapped wire and
loops of silk-wrapped silk.
Height: 1 6 inches Width:
20'/? inches
Gift of Irwin Untermyer,
1951-34-1

repeating patterns embroidered in a large
variety of stitches using silk and metallic
yarns. English samplers of this period were
frequently embroidered entirely in white,
with bands of reticella, an influence of
Italian embroidery.

Spanish samplers of the late seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries were large
squares, up to three feet, which could be
viewed from each of the four sides. The
samplers were often signed with the names
of both the pupil and the teacher. German
samplers of the same period were made in
both rectangular and square shapes.

As pattern books became available, the
sampler was no longer needed to record a
variety of patterns. Thus its function
changed to become a means of perfecting
embroidery skills. Literary references
indicate that in the seventeenth century
samplers were made by children in schools.
A repertoire of motifs, such as flowering
plants, confronted birds, pyramid-shaped
trees, Adam and Eve and angels, developed
(Figure 12).

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
the variety of stitches used on samplers
decreased. Counted cross stitch was the
most frequently used, so much so that it
became associated with the entire genre
and was called the sampler stitch. The
specialty sampler, such as the pattern-
darning sampler, the marking sampler, and
the hollie point sampler (a needle lace
technique) appeared during this period.

The museum has several pattern darning
samplers embroidered in the Netherlands in
the eighteenth century. Their function was
to train the embroiderer to darn well
enough to mend household linens in
various weaves as well as to mend knitting.
The sampler was made by filling in a hole
cut in the foundation fabric with stitches
that re-create or simulate various woven
structures. The German marking sampler of
the nineteenth century grew out of a similar
household tradition of training the
embroiderer to personalize and identify the
household linens.

American samplers developed from forms
and traditions that already existed in
Europe. New England samplers are similar
to English and Scottish styles while
Pennsylvania samplers tend to derive from
German traditions. Many American
samplers were made in schools where a
teacher created the design which her pupils
embroidered. Thus several samplers.

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11. Sampler

Mexico, late 18lh or early
19th century
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Counted stitches
using silk: long-armed
cross, back, satin and
double running. Withdrawn
element work with
overcasting combined with
a long floating stitch (aztec
stitch) using silk
Height: 14'h inches.
Width: 35 inches
Bequest of Mrs. Henry E.
Coe. 1941-69-122

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12. Sampler

Jean Porter

England. May 14, 1709-
Aprite. 1710
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Counted stitches
using silk long-armed
cross, herringbone and
double running. Free-form
slitches using silk
detached looping (man's
pants), buttonhole
(woman's caps and collars)
and couching (outline of
man's body).

Height: 18'h inches. Width:
9 inches

Bequest of Mrs. I~lenry E
Coe, 1941-69-63

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identical except for the embroiderer's
names, are preserved in different collections.

Crewel wool, worked on linen and cotton,
was one of the most popular materials for
embroidery in England, France and the
United States in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. The wool yarn was
made from a specially selected long fiber,
carefully combed, tightly spun and plied so
it would slip easily through the foundation
fabric. Because only long and glossy wool
fibers were selected, the colors are brilliant
even today. England excelled in the
production of crewel wool. The most
intimate pieces of crewel in the collection
are the eighteenth century French men's
caps (1944-1-1) and (1952-47-3) and the
eighteenth century American woman's
petticoat border (Figure 13). The few large
hangings in the Museum's collection are
very worn and faded due to hard use and
exposure to light but the patterns of vines
with exotic flowers and leaves are typically
vital and full of movement (Figure 14).

In the second half of the seventeenth
century and throughout the eighteenth
century, colorful, brightly dyed and
embroidered cottons from India and painted
and embroidered silks from China were
available for hangings, bed covers and
apparel. In spite of the number of exotic
foreign fabrics in Europe, for several
decades embroidery retained its hold on
quality of design and technique. The color,
scale and design of silk-embroidered
cottons and linens, particularly in England,
are closely related to the imports from India.

Foreign trade continued to make available a
great range of fabrics in addition to those
printed or woven in Europe. Since fabric
patterns, particularly for dresses, changed
yearly, interest in market developments
preoccupied many more people than
before. Non-professional embroidery be-
came increasingly less fashionable. Those
with money preferred purchasing com-
mercially produced embroideries to doing
their own needlework at home.

The work of professional embroiderers in
the eighteenth century is represented by a
variety of fabrics used by women. A white-
on-white fan leaf (1962-50-318) and a pair
of lappets or head ornaments (1962-50-56)
embroidered in Denmark or Germany,
represent efforts of lace needle workers to
compete with a growing passion for
gossamer bobbin lace in the 1720's and
1730's. Such very pesonal small-scale
pieces are startingly fine and combine

13. Petticoat Border

United States. 18th century
Foundation: linen, plain
weave. Stitches using
crewel wool: stem,
speckling, roumanian. knot,
chain, surface satin and
buttonhole. Height: Th
inches

Purchase: Funds provided
by Mrs. Montgomery Hare,
Mrs. Alastair B. Martin and
Au Panier Fleuri Fund,
1961-7-1

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14. Hanging

England, late 1 7th century
Foundation: linen warp and
cotton welt. 1/2 twill
Stitches using crewel wool:
satin, surface satin, stem,
detached chain, knots,
running, cross and
couching Height: 90
inches. Width: 35 inches
Gift ol Elizabeth B. Willis,
1955-123-1

embroidery with deflected element work to
create a wide range of sheer to opaque areas.

A length of cream silk embroidered with a
repeat of landscapes dominated by large
flowering plants (Figure 15) is in the same
style as brocaded silks of the 1730's. The
length clearly demonstrates its relationship
to silk patterns. However, the motifs number
more than could be included in a woven
repeat of a similar scale.

The largest group of eighteenth century
professional embroideries in the Museum
are articles for men. the majority from the
Greenleaf collection. There are eight coats,
three suits, eighty-five waistcoats and sixty-
five merchants' samples for coats and
waistcoats. There are also more than two
hundred gouache designs on paper. Each
pattern has an individual character although
many are confined to a specific format and
style of repeating natural and fantastic
flowers. One becomes curious about the
personality and taste of the man who
ordered a waistcoat with a lower border of
turkeys, cows or roosters (1962-54-30),
monkeys drinking and singing (Figure 16),
silver ships (1962-54-29), a man wearing a
Chinese style hat in a boat with ostrich
feathers (1962-54-56) or scenes from the
1785 opera Dido and Aeneas by Piccini
and Marmontel (1962-54-47).

Perhaps the first pattern book to include
color notes with motifs and indications of
how forms could be rendered three-
dimensionally was published by Johann
Friedrich Netto in Leipzig in 1795. The first
engraved page of motifs is accompanied by
a silk fabric, embroidered in colored silks,
following the outline of the printed sheet.
After the introductory text, each pattern
page is included twice, the first hand
colored and the second uncolored.
Diagrams of stitches did not appear in
published pattern books in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries but a few are
shown in the eighteenth century, as in the
Diderot Encyclopedie, completed in 1765.

The basic element of embroidery— the
stitch, knowledge of which was taken for
granted in previous centuries— had to be re-
taught on an elementary level by the end of
the eighteenth century. In the early
nineteenth century, young women used
surprisingly few stitches, mainly satin and
stem, in their embroidered exercises of
pastoral scenes, maps and mourning
pictures. Large areas of the foundation
fabric were not embroidered but were
painted for sky, grass and human features.

15. Dress Fabric

France, 1 730's
Foundation: silk, plain
weave patterned witti lloals
of a supplementary warp
Satin and stem stitches
using silk l-leighl: 40
inches. Width, selvedge to
selvedge: 22 inches
Purchase in memory of
Mary Hearn Greims.

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"Fame Adorning Shakespeare's Tomb,"
after a painting by Angelica Kauffman
(1974-100-12), was a favorite in English
schools and had its counterpart in the
United States In "Fame Adorning the Tomb
of Washington" (1974-100-15).

Early in the nineteenth century when the
clean lines of the classical style were in
vogue for dresses and furnishings,
decoration was limited to borders and
trimmings. These were woven and printed
as well as embroidered. White muslin
dresses and curtains were particularly
suited to embroidery with small-scale all-
over patterns and borders, usually in white.
The hook for chain stitch, illustrated in the
Diderot Encyclopedie, made work much
faster and was increasingly used. In the first
fifteen years of the century a sense of
integrity in design and workmanship was
carried over from the eighteenth century.
However, the tremendous economic, social
and political changes which took place
between 1776 and 1815 had their effect on
embroidery. The large-scale machine
production of white cotton fabric and yarn
contributed to the popularity of white work.
The growing market for white-on-white
embroideries was supplied by a network of
cottage industries, particularly in England
and Scotland. Patterns were handed out to
women, who were paid to embroider them.
Embroidery machines began to reach their
full potential in mid-century. The dictates of
fashion caused frequent shifts in the
emphasizing effect of embroidery from skirt
to collar to parasol. The fast and extreme
changes in fashion often demanded new
applications of materials such as fabrics,
lace, beads, ribbons and feathers. In
contrast to the eighteenth century when
styles evolved gracefully and professional
designers were able to create personalized
patterns for individual customers, the
nineteenth century was a jumble of fast-
moving commercial forces in which the
individual had only a small voice.

The final blow to creative domestic
embroidery was the introduction of printed
patterns on squared paper in Berlin in 1804.
Women took quickly to this commercial
venture covering practically everything with
"Berlin wool-work," from suspenders,
slippers, chair seats and backs, to fire
screens and valances. Between 1810 and
1840, 14,000 patterns were published. The
enormous number of patterns gave an
illusion of creativity. Fabrics with mesh in
different degrees of openness were
specially woven to facilitate a simple

16. Untailored
Man's Waistcoat

France, 1 790's
Foundation: silk, 8-harness
satin. Satin, stem and knot
slltcl^es using silk. The
sheet music is painted.
Height: 25 '/: inches. Width,
selvedge to selvedge: 22
inches

Bequest of Richard C.
Greenleaf in memory of his
mother, Adeline Emma
Greenleaf, 1962-54-31

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transfer of pattern from color squares on
paper to the open mesh of the fabric. A fire
screen with a parrot and flowers in cross
and pile stitch, using the bright but
nonlustrous "Berlin" wools (Figure 17)
represents the fully three-dimensional
effects achieved. In an effort to keep
abreast of new designs the wool-work
sampler, embroidered by an adult, was
restored to its sixteenth century function of
a record of colorful patterns for easy
reference (1942-45-2).

With a new leisure class anxious to express
itself, a wide range of handwork was
illustrated and described in books and
periodicals late in the nineteenth century.
There were specific directions for knitting,
crochet, tufting, applique, bead work,
ribbon embroidery, and many other
techniques using a variety of materials such
as wax, paper, paints and shells. Patterns
appeared that were suitable for the series of
period-style revivals— Gothic, Baroque and
Renaissance. Due to this interest many of
the German and Italian sixteenth and
seventeenth century pattern books were
reprinted between 1875 and 1910. No doubt
the most bizarre revival of Renaissance
Italian embroidery, lace techniques and
patterns was achieved by Sybil Carter, an
Episcopalian deaconess from Maine. In the
1890's, she organized a home industry
among various North American Indian
tribes with a sales shop in New York City
(1943-44-1 through 16).

The loss of vital craft traditions and the
deterioration of design as a result of mass
production and acceptance of period
revivals became the primary concern of a
group of men in England in the 1850's. One
of the leaders of the Arts and Crafts
Movement, as it became known, was
William Morris (1834-1896) who designed
embroideries in the style of the pre-
Raphaelites for his home "Red House"
outside London. His designs were
embroidered by his family and friends. The
design and sale of embroidery patterns as
well as completed pieces became an
important activity of the company he
founded in 1861. The three pillows in the
collection were probably designed by or
under the direction of Morris's daughter,
May. One may have been embroidered by
May Morris herself (1975-19-1); the second
was purchased from Morris & Co. as a fully
made-up pillow (Figure 18); the third was
purchased as a kit complete with patterned
fabric and yarn and was embroidered in
New York (1936-5-3).

17. Fire Screen

United States, 1830-50
Foundation: silk-wrapped
cotton, plain weave (Berlin
canvas). Counted cross
stitch and pile loops using
wool Height: 28^u inches.
Width 21 ^i inches
Gift of Mrs. Edgar
Auchincloss, 1947-34-1

The continental art style, "Art Nouveau,"
expanded upon English ideas. The Museum
is fortunate in having six embroideries for
personal use designed by Hector Guimard
(1867-1942), the leading French architect in
this style. The fabrics include a collar and a
panel for a dress which he designed for
Adeline Oppenheimer to wear at their
wedding in 1909 (Figure 19).

The Encyclopedia of Needlework published
in France by Therese de Dillmont in 1880
and Caulfield and Saward's Dictionary of
Needlework published in England in 1882
presented dozens of techniques with clear
diagrams and directions that anyone could
follow. The number of styles and patterns
available to the non-professional em-
broiderer in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries can be appreciated by a
random review of the ladies' magazines of
the period.

In the twentieth century, the practice of
embroidery was interrupted by two major
wars. A casual glance at the periodicals of
the time reveals that knitting and crochet
occupied many hands and were used to
make warm mittens and sweaters for men at
the front. In countries where national
costumes were embroidered, such as in
Central Europe and Scandinavia, em-
broidery survived severe shocks.

In the United States, one of the most
influential teachers to rise out of the chaos
of the twentieth century was the Hungarian-
born Mariska Karasz (1898-1960). With
traditional training and years of experience
behind her, she taught her students to
become aware of the movement and
character of each stitch and to learn to use
stitches to express the line and mass of a
pattern. Her embroideries in the collection,
of which the best known is "Calla Lilly"
(Figure 20), clearly show that in her
approach to embroidery, design is far more
important than expensive materials or
minute and carefully repeated stitches.

Gradually, since about 1950, interest in
embroidery has increased so that today
there are thousands of non-professional
embroiderers, shops specializing in patterns
and needlework supplies and numerous
active guilds. Contemporary embroidery
emphasizes designs drawn from the
present. While both commercial designers
and non-professional embroiderers often
draw inspiration from the world around
them, museum collections continue to make
the traditions of the past accessible to
everyone.

18. Pillow Cover

Designed and embroidered
by William Morris & Co.
London, England, about
1900 '■

Foundation: two layers o1
plain weave cotton, the
bottom layer loosely woven.
Stitches using mercerized
cotton: running/ darning,
stem, couching and laid
work over surlace satin.
Height: 21 inches. Width:
21 'h inches.
Gilt of Annie May
Hegeman, 1944-71-6

Milton Sonday and Gillian Moss

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19. Panel tor a
Dress (unfinished)

Designed by Hector
Guimard (1876-1942) tor
tiis wite Adetine
Oppentieimer
Pans. France, 1909
Foundation: s/7/<, sheer ptain
weave. Stilclies using silk:
cliain Witt) a hiool<, stem,
satin, padded satin and t^not
(chain stitch used as
padding lor satin stitch).
Height: 27 inches. Width:
1 1 '/? inches

Gitt of film. Hector Guimard.
1949-91-3

20. Calla Lily

Designed and embroidered

by Marislo Karasz (1898- y^'i

1 960) KT/

United States, 1951 ^)'

Foundation: s/ft, plain jvi

weave textured by crint^ied /.i

yarn. Stitcties using cotton. rV

wool and synthetics: f f

coucliing, ladder cliain, ff\

leattier. raised stem. U

knotted detached looping, f i

stem and Cretan. i\

Height: 22 inches. Width. I )

16'.h inches y\

Gift of Elizabeth Gordon, l/^\
1964-24-38

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Bolton, Ethel Stanwood
and, Coe, Eva Johnston

Brett, Katharine B,

Daniels, Margaret
Harrington

Digby, George
Wingfield
deFarcy, Louis

Freeman, Margaret
Hackenbrough, Yvonne

Huish, Marcus

Kendrick, A.F ,
King, Donald
Levey, Santina
Morris, Barbara
Schuette, Mane

Schuette, Mane and
Muller-Christensen,
Sigrid, text translated by
Donald King
Seligman, G Saville

Wardle. Patricia

Caulfield, S F A. and
Saward, B C

de Dillmont, Therese
Diderot, Denis

Emery, Irene

Enthoven, Jacqueline
Karasz, Mariska
Thomas, Mary

Furst, Paulus

Jobin. Bernhard

Netto, Johann Friedrich

Ostaus, Giovanni

Paganino, Allessandro

Pagano, Mathio

Parasole, Isabetta

Catanea

Quentel, Peter

da Sera, Domenico

Vavassore, Giovanni
Vecellio, Cesare
Vinciolo, Frederico

Selected Bibliography
American Samplers

English Embroidery 16th to 18th Century

"Early Pattern Books, Lace, Embroidery and Woven

Textiles" in Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum

of Art, Vol. XXXIII, No. 3, March.

Elizabethan Embroidery

La broderie du Xle siecle jusqu'a nos jours d'apres des
specimens authentiques et les anciens inventaires
The St. Martin Embroideries

English and other Needlework and Textiles in the
Irwin Untermyer Collection
Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries

English Needlwork

Samplers

Discovering Embroidery of the 19th Century

Victorian Embroidery

Gestickte bildteppiche und decken des mittelalters....

The Art of Embroidery

Domestic Needlework, its Origins and Customs
throughout the centuries
Guide to English Embroidery

Techniques

The Dictionary of Needlework

Encyclopedia of Needlework

Encyclopedie ou Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences

et des metiers

The Primary Structures of Fabric

see pp232-48: "Accessory Stitches"

The Stitches of Creative Embroidery

Adventures in Stitches

Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches

Pattern Books

Modelbuch

Neu Kunstlichs Modelbuch

Zeichen-Mahler und Stickerbuch

La Vera Perfettione

II Burato

La Gloire et L'Honore de Ponti Tagliati e PontI in aere

Pretiosa gemma delle virtuose donne...

Musterbuch fiir ornamente und stickmuster
La Livre de lingerie...

Boston, Massachusetts Society of 1921

the Colonial Dames of America, reprint, 1973
New York, Dover 1973

Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum 1972

New York, The Metropolitan

Museum of Art, March 1938

New York, Thomas Yoseloff 1964

Angers. Belhomme. 2 vols. 1890

New York, The Metropolitan Mus of Art 1968

Cambridge, Harvard University 1960
Press

London, Longmans Green & Co., 1913

reprint. New York. Dover 1970

London. Adam and Charles Black 1967

London. Victoria and Albert Museum I960

Tring, Herts, Shire Publications 1971

New York, Universe Books 1962

Leipzig, K,W, HIersemann, 2 vols. 1927-30

London, Thames and Hudson 1964

New York, Scribners 1926

London, Victoria and Albert Museum 1970

London. L Upton Gill 1882

reprint. New York, Arno 1972

Mulhouse, France [1880]

Paris, Briasson 1751-65

Washington, DC, The Textile 1966
Museum

Esemplario di Lavori

Corona delle nobili et virtuose donne....

Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Pourtraicts

30 20 1

New York. Reinhold

1964

New York. Funk and Wagnall's

1949 & 1959

London, Hodder and Stoughton

1934

Nurnberg

1676

Strasbourg

1582-1600

Leipzig

1795

Venice

1567

Venice

1527

Venice

1558

Venice, Lucchino Gargano

1600

Leipzig

1527-29

Paris, Hierosme de Marnef &

1584

la veuve de Guillaume Cavellat

1530

Venice

1600

Paris

1589

Catalogue design, Roger Whitehouse

Cooper- Hewitt Museum

2 East 91st St.

New York, N.Y. 10028

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